Rickenbacker in a drop tune set up

casper_morgan

casper_morgan

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Feb 20, 2013
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#1
Any idea how a rickenbacker would do in a drop tune set up? I am un aware of any musicians (that I know of) that has done this and am unsure if ric's are even able to be really set up for a tuning such as drop C or drop B. Would the pick ups sound okay for this? and would the body be able to hold tone if you used a little thicker strings? any insight to this would be great.
 
#2
I asked this question on the Rickresource forum, and in the Rickenbacker forum here on TB. Maybe somebody else who's tried it for awhile will weigh in. There were a few who tried it on both forums, though by no means common. It's a 33.25" scale, so the B might be a little floppy. I think the neck can handle it without difficulty, you will have to file the nuts slots wider though. I used to tune my E down to drop D on a few tunes, and it sounded fine to me.
 
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#3
From Joey's Rickenbacker Bass Setup page, you may have to turn the saddles around.

Clipboard01.jpg
 
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#5
I think he means will it intonate, as Neal points out, you might not have enough travel on the E string saddle to compensate for a B string, in which case you can flip the saddle. Hoping somebody who's done this will chime in, I'd like to try it too.
 
#10
casper_morgan said:
Any idea how a rickenbacker would do in a drop tune set up? I am un aware of any musicians (that I know of) that has done this and am unsure if ric's are even able to be really set up for a tuning such as drop C or drop B. Would the pick ups sound okay for this? and would the body be able to hold tone if you used a little thicker strings? any insight to this would be great.
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Tons of Rickenbacker players tune low. I tune BEAD on one of mine.
Seen here:


Al Cisneros from Sleep tunes to C standard, IIRC:


Aaron from Yob sometimes uses a Rickenbacker, and they're tuned down to A standard:


As does the dude in Ufomammut:
 
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#11
Gilmourisgod said:
I asked this question on the Rickresource forum, and in the Rickenbacker forum here on TB. Maybe somebody else who's tried it for awhile will weigh in. There were a few who tried it on both forums, though by no means common. It's a 33.25" scale, so the B might be a little floppy. I think the neck can handle it without difficulty, you will have to file the nuts slots wider though. I used to tune my E down to drop D on a few tunes, and it sounded fine to me.
Click to expand...
The low B on mine isn't floppy.

Gilmourisgod said:
I think he means will it intonate, as Neal points out, you might not have enough travel on the E string saddle to compensate for a B string, in which case you can flip the saddle. Hoping somebody who's done this will chime in, I'd like to try it too.
Click to expand...
Mine seemed to intonate fine. Can't remember if my tech had to flip the saddle or not, though.

CanadaNeal said:
Could be. I thought he meant "will it still sound like a Ric, with a .125 on it?" Will it still kick all kinds of butt?
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Yes, it will. I use the gauges 130, 100, 80, 60. The 130 is the same as what D'Addario puts in their EXL-175 set.
 
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#12
casper_morgan said:
Any idea how a rickenbacker would do in a drop tune set up? I am un aware of any musicians (that I know of) that has done this and am unsure if ric's are even able to be really set up for a tuning such as drop C or drop B. Would the pick ups sound okay for this? and would the body be able to hold tone if you used a little thicker strings? any insight to this would be great.
Click to expand...

Rickenbacker do great with a low B

4 to 5 bass conversion

Rickenbacker 5 strings sound better with light strings ...

I use D'addario Extra light ... with a .125 B ... fatter string don't work as well ... I tried them and it was a fail ...
 
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#14
Ric5 said:
Rickenbacker do great with a low B

4 to 5 bass conversion

Rickenbacker 5 strings sound better with light strings ...

I use D'addario Extra light ... with a .125 B ... fatter string don't work as well ... I tried them and it was a fail ...
Click to expand...
Hm... I must beg to differ. I use a Rotosound 77 low B (.130) and I dig the hell out of it.

Also, my top 4 are Chromes in a heavier gauge to match the tension, .050, .065, .085, .105
 
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#15
Rics do well drop tuned. Not sure why but they really do sound good. I can not confirm nor deny whether the light or heavy string sets do better than the other. I think a .125 B string set would do great with the proper set up.
 
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#16
Try the Kalium strings. The tension shouldn't have to be any higher than a regular set of standard tuned strings. kalium tapers the low string, and it sounds clear as a bell. That's one of my biggest gripes with regular B strings, when they're not tapered they have a tendency to sound thuddy and woofy no matter what I do. The Kalium fixes that.
 
#17
casper_morgan said:
Any idea how a rickenbacker would do in a drop tune set up? I am un aware of any musicians (that I know of) that has done this and am unsure if ric's are even able to be really set up for a tuning such as drop C or drop B. Would the pick ups sound okay for this? and would the body be able to hold tone if you used a little thicker strings? any insight to this would be great.
Click to expand...

I don't know if it is your kind of music or not, but the Tool album "Undertow" features a Rick in drop D if you are interested in a taste!
 
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